Last Stop: Pyongyang

Shock wave

Yu-ja walked lightly along the forest path. Tonight, she had attracted a lot of attention - her thick black hair, slim figure and brown almond eyes were attractive to many men. And she was wearing her favorite clothes! The black, tight jeans and her midnight blue sleeveless glitter top, which was tight on her body, showed off her figure perfectly. Even Daniel had openly sent her admiring glances.

Daniel had also been to 3Nights. For some reason, she felt comfortable around him. When going out, she was always hoping to see him there.

Yu-ja sighed and let her gaze wander over her surroundings. The forest seemed a little spooky... the big trees, the calls of the owls, the cracking branches on the ground. And there were shadows everywhere! Only the full moon lit her way. Her cell phone's battery was almost empty anyway and wouldn't last much longer.

Yu-ja frowned. Carola had been her best friend for years. Now, she had almost turned into a different person! Her behavior had taken a turn for the worse since her boyfriend had split up with her. But that was no reason to keep bringing in new men! Especially those shady types... Yu-ja shuddered when she thought of the rough, disgusting guy Carola had been flirting with earlier. She would never touch that guy!

Now she passed a field so that she could oversee a larger area. She spotted the next lights in the distance - the street lights of a remote village. At night, the forest was somehow... eerie.

She would be home in less than half an hour. Yu-ja felt no fear and started humming.

No one was going to ambush her. And even if they did - her father taught her North Korean martial arts for a reason. He had practiced diligently, especially during his time at the naval base, as he never tired of emphasizing. That had been well before Yu-ja’s time - she was born in Seongnam, during her father‘s deployment to South Korea.

So far, there hadn’t been any need for Yu-ja to use her combat skills, so she found the training largely pointless. Nevertheless, she and Tak had not been spared from exercising. Their father made them practice twice a week.

Suddenly she heard a noise in the bushes. Something was there... she stopped and looked around, but couldn't make out anything suspicious. With a queasy feeling, she started moving again. The sooner she got out of the forest, the better.

She heard another c***k. Before she could react, she was grabbed forcefully! Seemingly out of nowhere, a tall, grinning guy appeared in front of her and held her arms tight. She wanted to scream, but her throat was squeezed from behind. Panicked, she tried to gasp for air. She heard the boys' malicious laughter.

"Well, you little Asian w***e. Make yourself useful." Despite her fear, Yu-ja recognized the voice of Markus, the doctor's good-for-nothing son. So he was strangling her! At the same time, a third guy tried to unzip her pants.

Yu-ja got over her panic in seconds and skillfully freed herself from her attacker’s grip. Then she hit back and targeted the strangler, who immediately let go of her throat. A well-aimed kick on his knee sent Markus to the ground. A stream of blood flowed from his nose. Yu-ja's elbow had not missed its target.

Markus managed to smear some blood into his peroxide-blond hair. Yu-ja looked away in disgust. If Dr. Friedmann knew what his son was up to...

The third one, who had just been busy with her jeans, moved away of his own accord. Now Yu-ja noticed that he was Armin - the red-haired, freckled policeman's son, who wasn't exactly of normal weight either.

Don't give up. If you surrender, you're lost. That's what Sang-wan had impressed upon his children.

"Your dad cannot be proud of you, you disgusting wanker," she hurled at Armin, hoping that the mention of his policeman father would distract him from pursuing his disgusting plans.

"Whaaaaat, she's stubborn! That's funny. Do you really think the three of us can't handle you?" The guy who had held her arms yelled with a crazy look in his eyes. Apparently he hadn't noticed what had just happened to Markus - or he didn't care. His hair fell into his eyes. "Be a good Chinese w***e!"

Yu-ja instinctively felt that her life was in danger. These three were stupid, evil and brutal, if the rumors could be believed. Only the fact that they were the son of a lawyer, doctor and policeman, respectively, saved them from punishment. Once they were done with her, they certainly wouldn't just let her go.

Armin - the pants grabber, as she called him in her mind - was about to pounce on her when Yu-ja raised her arm and rammed her elbow into his face. A stream of blood ran from his nose. At the same time, she kicked him hard in the crotch, causing her attacker to land on his knees, whimpering.

This spurred the third member of the group on even more. The lawyer's son, whom Yu-ja now also recognized, ripped off her T-shirt, leaving her standing there in her black b*a, and pressed himself against her. His black curls smelled like rotten eggs. He stank horribly and had a huge hangover. How he could stand on his feet while so drunk remained a mystery to Yu-ja. She tried hard not to inhale the penetrating smell.

By turning, she put a short distance between herself and her attacker, which was enough to twist his finger painfully. The lawyer's son, whose name Yu-ja couldn't remember, was now on his knees, too. But he wasn't getting off the hook so easily. Yu-ja kicked his shoulder so hard that it cracked. He howled loudly. That must have been his collarbone, she thought mercilessly.

Markus and Armin, who were pretty badly injured, backed away, although crawling was more accurate. Yu-ja looked at the three of them. She spoke quietly and threateningly. "If you ever come near me again, you will crawl home on all fours. Castrated." She turned around again. "And I'm a Korean. A North Korean. Remember that." She acknowledged the attackers‘ astonished looks with a sly smile.

Yu-ja picked up her torn T-shirt and hurried on before her confident facade began to crumble. She could hear her attackers shout and broke into a brisk jog. The faster she got away, the better. The adrenaline slowly wore off and gave way to great relief. For the first time in her life, she was deeply grateful to her father for making such an effort to teach his children the skills of self-defense.

***

Tak speedily drove down the dusty dirt road. His sister was out there alone in the middle of the night! He really needed to talk to her. Next time she had to call him instead of walking off alone! That was unreasonable and dangerous.

Tak also thought about Yu-ja's friendship with Carola. Just ran off with a guy she didn't even know and left Yu-ja all to herself! And she called herself a friend...

He kept looking for his sister. When he turned around the corner, he recognized only the silhouettes of the three figures he had encountered this afternoon. Tak approached and realized that they were wearing the same dirty clothes as before.

The feeling of unease in Tak's stomach grew stronger. He stopped and operated the electric window. When he was just about to ask about Yu-ja, he noticed that something was very wrong. Two of the guys had bleeding noses. The third one was hunching his upper body unnaturally. Apparently, all three had been beaten up.

"That's the loon’s brother! Let's get him!" shouted Armin, before Tak could speak. The policeman's son could hardly contain his enthusiasm. "Are you crazy?" shouted Markus. "One beating is enough for me." He tried to move away, but Tak quickly reached out of the car‘s window and grabbed his arm. "I'll only ask once. Where is Yu-ja?"

Markus raised his other arm helplessly. He was sweating, even though it had long since cooled down on this spring evening. He pointed to the West. "She went this way. We just wanted to talk to her, but she beat us up for no reason! That's what happens to you when you try to be nice."

Tak snorted contemptuously. As if Yu-ja attacked people just like that! There must have been good reason for that. He gave Markus a shove so that he landed hard on the ground. Tak quickly put the car in gear and drove in Yu-ja's direction.

After about 800 meters, he spotted Yu-ja in the moonlight. Tak quickly caught up with her, stopped and got out. He stared at his sister in disbelief. "What are you doing, running around like that? Are you crazy?" He grabbed her by the arm and led her to the passenger side, opened the door and pushed her into the car.

Yu-ja sank into her seat, waiting for her brother to get in. "I'm really glad you're here. Those three idiots suddenly jumped out of a bush and grabbed me. I could really use our martial arts training tonight." Tak jumped in shock. Overwhelmed, he looked at his sister. Immediately, an expression of anger spread across his face.

"Were those the three who were so badly injured?" he asked, just to be sure. He had to hear it from his sister. Yu-ja just nodded, and Tak exhaled audibly. "I'll finish them off. We're going back."

Despite Yu-ja's pleas, Tak did not allow himself to be dissuaded from his plans. With a stony expression on his face, he turned the car around and stepped on the gas. However, the three of them were gone. Tak looked behind the trees and in the bushes, but was unable to spot anyone. They had probably run away.

With a grim stare, he turned the car around and headed home.